🔹🏐The Courts Calling🏐🔹- A Haikyuu Fanfiction

Dragon's Reign (Part 1)- The Defeat

5,783. That's how many trees I counted on the side of the road as we drove through the forest of the mountains. The mood inside the bus had changed drastically since we left Shinzen, a once eardrum bursting team now as silent as the dead.

Earlier when we were driving through the city, nobody was able to sit still from their rushing adrenaline. Our spirit illuminated this tiny space like neon lights, something I hadn't seen in this team for the longest time, but the closer we got to Katsushika High just reminded us of what exactly we were getting into.

Now, as my eyes scanned over the girls, I wasn't able to see one flicker of power. It was almost scary, Haruka stayed completely silent for probably the first time in her life, Shinobu was completely absent of her judgmental gaze, which was now just a black stare, and even Kimie sat alone in the back with her headphones dormant around her neck. There was no conversation, probably because there was nothing anybody could say to calm each other's torturing nerves.

Kiyomi and Mika sat in the seats before mine, both just flipping through their cameras like they usually do. The only hint I had about their uneasiness was the fact that they had scrolled through the same file of pictures ten time already, my guess not even paying attention to what was on the screen.

The only one on the entire team who didn't seem to be affected by this tension, was the girl holding her head out the window like a puppy. "I can feel my ears popping!" Miyu exclaims, her blonde hair dancing like gold in the wind. "We're in the mountains again!"

It was as if I could feel everybody grow stiff as those words entered the bus. As Miyu retracts her body back into her seat, she seemed to be able to sense the aura. "Alpha-senpai." She whispers, poking her head around the backrest to meet my gaze. "Why is everybody so quiet?"

Lifting myself up from slouching in the chair, I tried to respond in the steadiest way possible. "Not everybody can look into the face of fear like you can, Pup."

Confusion then flooded her face. "Why should we be afraid?" She asked lightly. "When we boot Jiro out of the gym, we can finally invite a Nekoma over and play a real game! We can beat him, right? You said so yourself."

Shock overcame my expression when I realized how unafraid she really was. Everybody else on this team was only seconds away from wetting themselves they were so petrified, but Miyu chose to believe in what I had said in the gym and focus her attention on a future that wasn't even decided yet. Sometimes she made me wonder how I was ever so lucky to be called her senpai.

Shoving all the nauseousness back down my throat, I reach out and ruffle her wavy hair. "I've told you before. We're Timber Wolves. We can handle anything."

Those words felt as if they were shoved down my throat when we later came into view of a sight that none of us ever expected so soon. The Katsushika Institution entrance gate. The familiar entrance to the campus was just the same as it always was, a graceful archway with the school name written over the top, then the two sides of the path decorated with two identical wolf statues. Passing under the gate, we drive through a thick forest for a few minutes before the main building was able to be seen.

This structure held the main office and a few major classrooms, meeting rooms, and tutors, but most of the school's life happened deeper into the campus where dozens of different buildings had been scattered all over the property. The front was where we kept all the actual school buildings where we have normal classes, and the sports facilities were organized neatly in the back, but it was a maze to any outside visitors.

The bus pulls up to the front and we were allowed to exit, but most of us weren't in any hurry to leave. After what felt like half an hour, I had finally coaxed the whole team off and began leading them around the front of the main buildings and towards the sidewalk leading to our gyms.